HARTFORD – State Senator John Fonfara (D-Hartford) today joined Hartford Public Library Chief Executive Officer Bridget Quinn-Carey, Mayor Luke Bronin, and other officials to break ground on the new Park Street Library, which will revitalize the corner of Broad and Park Streets in Hartford.
The new two-story, 13,000 square-foot building will be the largest library in Hartford, providing much-needed community resources to an already vibrant retail and residential neighborhood. The program includes a 150-seat community room, learning lab, meeting rooms, a café, exhibit space and designated adult, teen and children’s areas and a protected courtyard. The $12.5 million-dollar project is funded by $11.1 million in state bonding, a $1 million grant from the State Library, and additional funds from the City of Hartford.
“This is a long-overdue commitment to the Frog Hollow community and to the Latino community in particular. They have endured a facility that for too long has been inadequate for the children and for community residents in general,” said Sen. Fonfara, who was instrumental in securing the state funding for the project. “Now we’ve got a whole new building planned to serve this community, and it will serve this community in ways the old library did not and could not.”
“I want to thank Governor Lamont, Lt. Governor Bysiewicz, Senator Fonfara, Representative Gonzalez, Mayor Bronin, the State of Connecticut and the City of Hartford for this essential investment in the new Park Street Library,” said Quinn-Carey. “The Park Street Library is an important and essential anchor for the Park Street neighborhood, and we are all excited for this new venue that will make a great branch even better and stronger for the future.”
“The Park Street library is one of the most well-used branches in the city, and for decades, the Frog Hollow neighborhood has fought to replace the small, rented space with a facility that truly meets the neighborhood’s needs,” said Mayor Bronin. “I’m thrilled that a beautiful new branch will soon be built on the site where the historic but blighted Lyric theater stood, providing a strong community anchor at the corner of Park Street and Broad Streets. This was a true partnership between the neighborhood, the city, the state, and the Hartford Public Library, and it’s an exciting and long-awaited win for Frog Hollow.”
The project, designed by world-renowned Hartford-based architect TKSP Studio, will take approximately one year to complete.